Tuesday, March 6, 2007

In Boston the temperature has fluctuated from being in the 50s (last week) to in the teens (today - with a windchill of -7!!!) Man it's cold! I was really starting to get "spring fever" with the warmer weather and spring training games. Now I'm feeling like it's only the middle of January!

One story that keeps me "warm and fuzzy" is Jon Lester's comeback. Slow and steady wins the race and will get him back to being an ace pitcher.

(photo courtesy of the AP)

It was September 2, 2006 when Boston.com reported Jon's illness:

The Red Sox announced yesterday that Jon Lester, 22, had been diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a blood cancer, and will begin treatment in the coming week.

RSN was already down on the ground being kicked with injuries and "Manny beingManny" when we got this blow. Fast forward only six months later to March 5, 2007 where Lester went out and pitched an inning in a Spring Training game! Lester had an 8 pitch inning in a B game against the Twins.

Lester feels he is 85-90% back to being full strength. He really wants to get out there and do this thing, but understands why the organization is urging him to take things slow.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY can't wait for him to return to the Majors and show his stuff. I'll be honest, I didn't think much about him one way or another before news of his cancer broke. But the way he has kept such a positive attitude and worked to get his life "back to normal" impresses me above and beyond just about anything.